Neudorf is a village and a former municipality in the district of Harz, in

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Since 1 September 2010, it is part of the town

Harzgerode Harzgerode is a town in the district of Harz in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Geography Harzgerode lies in the lower eastern part of the Harz mountain range on the Selke River, south of Quedlinburg. It is connected to Gernrode and Quedlinburg via Ale ...

History

The village was established in 1530/31 in the district (''

Amt Amt is a type of administrative division governing a group of municipalities, today only in Germany, but formerly also common in other countries of Northern Europe. Its size and functions differ by country and the term is roughly equivalent to ...

'') of Bärenrode by the counts of Stolberg, but soon thereafter was transferred to the princes of

Anhalt-Bernburg Anhalt-Bernburg was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire and a duchy of the German Confederation ruled by the House of Ascania with its residence at Bernburg in present-day Saxony-Anhalt. It emerged as a subdivision from the Principality of ...

. The first village houses were erected on the present day Church Square (''Kirchplatz''). Farm workers were the first to settle here. They soon built a small church and, in 1542, received the first Evangelical priest. The

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...

devastated the peaceful village. In 1806 there were 58 houses with 370 inhabitants who lived off farming, cattle breeding, coal transportation and woodcutting. Neudorf developed into a mineworkers' village (the best-known ore mines were the Meiseberg and Pfaffenberg pits). In 1887 the present brick church was built. A workers' hostel was built for the many craftsmen hired for the mines. Neudorf im Harz was known its mining and the mineral specimens of great beauty that were discovered here and which had become much sought after collectors' items by the 19th century (including specimens containing

galenite Galena, also called lead glance, is the natural mineral form of lead(II) sulfide (PbS). It is the most important ore of lead and an important source of silver. Galena is one of the most abundant and widely distributed sulfide minerals. It cryst ...

, siderite,

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...

zinc blend Sphalerite (sometimes spelled sphaelerite) is a sulfide mineral with the chemical formula . It is the most important ore of zinc. Sphalerite is found in a variety of deposit types, but it is primarily in sedimentary exhalative, Mississippi-Va ...

and

bournonite Bournonite is a sulfosalt mineral species, trithioantimoniate of lead and copper with the formula PbCuSbS3. It was first mentioned by Philip Rashleigh in 1797 as an ore of antimony and was more completely described in 1804 by French crystallo ...

crystals). Specimens from this period may be viewed e.g. in the Zincken Collection in

Bernburg Castle Bernburg (Saale) is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, capital of the Salzlandkreis district. The former residence of the Anhalt-Bernburg princes is known for its Renaissance castle. Geography The town centre is situated in the fertile Magdeburg ...

. Following the closure of the pits, tourism sprang up as a new source of income. The spring of ''Stahlquelle'' ("Steel Spring") was made accessible to visitors in 1931 and contributed to Neudorf's good reputation as a tourist destination. On 1 September 2010 Neudorf was incorporated into

.Gebietsänderungen vom 01. Januar bis 31. Dezember 2010

Statistisches Bundesamt The Federal Statistical Office (german: Statistisches Bundesamt, shortened ''Destatis'') is a federal authority of Germany. It reports to the Federal Ministry of the Interior. The Office is responsible for collecting, processing, presenting and ...

Tourism

There is a checkpoint (no. 193) for hikers by the ''Stahlquelle'' which is part of the Harzer Wandernadel system.

References

Former municipalities in Saxony-Anhalt Harzgerode Duchy of Anhalt {{Harz-geo-stub